Sunday 17 February 2019

REVIEW: Gabby Killick: Girlfriend From Hell - The Frog And Bucket, Manchester


Gabby Killick’s “Girlfriend From Hell” show promises to offer advice on everything from when it’s time to start stalking your boyfriend to what to do when you’ve taken too much ketamine. Killick has also been receiving some excellent reviews for the show – she debuted it at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Gabby Killick was announced to the stage with an instruction to the audience that they were very welcome to take photos and videos throughout – and if they felt like texting their ex at some point during the show then this was to be encouraged. This show started at 5pm, with the idea of texting your ex probably having more impact if this was a late night show. Killick addressed the early start time when she arrived on stage – calling us all “mental” for coming to a comedy show at this time.

Killick didn’t waste any time and quickly got into the show, it was less of a stand-up routine and more of a one woman show. She talked being recently out of a difficult break up – it was just 6 years ago she stated with much irony in her voice. This part of the show was exactly as advertised as she spoke of her stalker tendencies both through the use of social media to the point where she would be in his garden watching him from the bushes. This drew some small laughs from the audience and I was excited that this was the start of something special – sadly the show didn’t build on this and moved around various topics at too rapid a rate.

Having moved from stalking her ex-boyfriend to the ritual of a bunch of ladies getting ready for a night out, Killick talked of the stereotypes of posing for Instagram photos and having the Uber wait outside for too long whilst trying to round up the group. These observations were amusing but not laugh out loud funny – I heard small chuckles from others in the audience but generally it seemed to be an opinion shared by most.

There were some really funny moments in the show, the rap that Killick used to put across some of her material was very funny and excellently delivered. I also enjoyed her acting out the sequence of getting home after a night out and believing that she could get into the house through the cap flap – but these two highlights didn’t make up for what was a show that in my opinion lacked real depth of material. Gabby Killick had a really likeable personality and I have no doubt that her material will improve but for now this one hour show just made me walk away feeling a little underwhelmed.

Reviewer - John Fish
on - 16/2/19

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